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PMID: 1675793 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

Are eukaryotic microorganisms clonal or sexual? A population genetics vantage.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 88 ·No. 12 ·1991-06-15 ·Pages 5129-33

Tibayrenc M, Kjellberg F, Arnaud J, Oury B, Brenière SF, Dardé ML, Ayala FJ

Abstract

We argue that the mode of reproduction of microorganisms in nature can only be decided by population genetic information. The evidence available indicates that many parasitic protozoa and unicellular fungi have clonal rather than sexual population structures, which has major consequences for medical research and practice. Plasmodium falciparum, the agent of malaria, is a special case: the scarce evidence available is contradictory, some suggesting that uniparental lineages may exist in nature. This is puzzling (because P. falciparum is known to have a sexual stage) and poses a challenge that can be readily settled by ascertaining the frequency distribution of genotypes in natural populations.

MeSH Terms
Animals DNA Probes DNA, Fungal/genetics DNA, Protozoan/genetics Eukaryota/physiology Eukaryotic Cells/physiology Fungi/physiology Genetics, Population Genotype Leishmania/physiology Nucleic Acid Hybridization Plasmodium falciparum/physiology Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length Reproduction, Asexual Toxoplasma/physiology Trypanosoma cruzi/physiology
Chemicals
DNA Probes DNA, Fungal DNA, Protozoan
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Tibayrenc M
Laboratoire de Génétique des Parasites et des Vecteurs, Institut Français de Recherche pour le Développement en Coopération, Montpellier, France.
Kjellberg F
Arnaud J
Oury B
Brenière S F
Dardé M L
Ayala F J
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.88.12.5129
Published
1991-06-15
Pages
5129-33
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC51825
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.88.12.5129 PMC Full Text View journal details
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